By Canadian Press

Schizas, Gilles & Poirier leads after short programs at Canadian championships

Jan 7, 2022 | 4:56 PM

Skating to an upbeat Elton John medley, and dressed in neon orange sequined jumpsuits, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier surely would have brought the crowd to its feet with their high-energy rhythm dance on Friday — had there been a crowd.

The reigning world ice dance bronze medallists are the leaders after the short dance at the Canadian figure skating championships with a score of 86.98 points, and moments after their performance they reflected on competing at an Olympic trials in front of no audience.

“It feels kind of strange,” said Gilles, a 29-year-old from Toronto. “Again, we don’t have the audience, so again today we really had to focus on ourselves. That’s really what we needed to do today. We really enjoyed it and I hope that the fans at home enjoyed it as much as we did.”

Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., is the leader after the women’s short program.

Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen go into Saturday’s free dance in second with 81.04, while Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha are third (76.67).

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Canada has three berths in ice dance for the Beijing Olympics; the team will be announced on Sunday.

The trials are being held with no crowd in Ottawa due to the rise of COVID-19 cases in Ontario. The provincial government recently ruled that major events could have no more than 1,000 people in attendance.

There was a smattering of applause from coaches and other officials in attendance when Gilles and Poirier struck their final pose.

“I’m smiling under this mask, I swear,” Poirier said on a virtual availability with media afterward. “First and foremost we’re really treating this competition as a training opportunity for the Olympic Games. That’s where we really want to be peaking.

“We’re just excited to be back on a competitive stage, performing these programs and I think we’re just really trying to be present in the performances,” added the 30-year-old from Unionville, Ont. “That’s where we’ll really focus during the next month of training and just really want people to believe in the work that we’re doing. In order for us to do that, we really need to believe in what we’re doing, to be present in each moment of the program.”

Gilles and Poirier had been scheduled to compete at the Grand Prix Final last month, but it was one of the first international sports events scrapped as the Omicron variant began to spread across the globe.

The virus continues to pose a major threat to athletes as a positive test from this point on could keep them from travelling to Beijing. Athletes weren’t required to present a negative test before competing in Ottawa.

The U.S. nationals are being held with fans in Nashville, and have already seen positive cases. Two-time champion Alysa Liu withdrew from the U.S. championships after testing positive on Friday, less than a day after a third-place finish in the short program put her in position to make the Olympic team.

In Ottawa, meanwhile, the 18-year-old Schizas scored 72.05 points for a virtually flawless skate to “Dulcea Si Tandra Mea Fiara,” doing a double fist pump when she finished.

Schizas has risen quickly up the Canadian ranks, winning the virtual Skate Canada Challenge last year, Canada’s lone national event on a schedule all but wiped out by the pandemic. She was 13th at the world championships to secure the country one Olympic berth in her discipline.

“The Olympics were not even on my radar until after the world championships last year,” said Schizas. “When I qualified Canada a spot at the Games, that’s when I said to myself ‘You know, I could do this. I could qualify.'”

Schizas said she would have loved to have a crowd.

“I had a big group of family and friends who were supposed to come, and I wanted them to be here,” she said. “(But) I approach it as my job and I have to do what I practised to do if there is an audience or not.”

Veronik Mallet from Sept-Iles, Que., was second in the short program with a score of 59.35, while two-time Olympian Gabrielle Daleman was third (58.48).

“That was really bad,” said Daleman, a world bronze medallist and Olympic champion in the team event in 2018. “It’s not what I’ve been doing in practice. Unfortunately it’s sport. The stuff wasn’t there and I’m really disappointed in myself. But all I can do is put today behind, focus on (Saturday) and just go out there and skate. Not for marks, results, or anyone, just skate for me and be in the moment.”

Canada has two Olympic spots in men’s singles and pairs, and three in ice dance. The short programs for those events were scheduled for Friday evening.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2022.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press